Guardian at the Gate
by CaffieneKitty
Summary: Fairy princesses aren't scared of anything.


**Rating/Content:** Gen, PG-13, Silliness, Bad trick-or-treating safety, Trial Radiation Sick Sammy, humor.  
**Disclaimer**: I do not own and did not originate this world and its inherent characters.  
**Notes:** Written for princess_schez's spn_bigpretzel Halloween Comment-fic Meme prompt.

**Summary: Fairy princesses aren't scared of anything.**

-.-

**Guardian at the Gate**  
_by Caffienekitty_  
-.-

"C'mon! Chicken!" Mitchell shouted.

"Am not a chicken!" Shelby stomped her foot, knocking glitter off her fairy wings.

"Are so!" said Jenna, who had a birthday in June instead of January and was a whole half year older even though they were both in third grade, which made Jenna sometimes think that made her more grown-up but it really didn't. Plus Jenna switched to wearing an all-pink Supergirl costume instead of them both going as twin fairy princesses like they'd planned since _September_ because she found out _Mitchell_ was going trick-or-treating with them as Batman, _and_ she took Mitchell's side whenever he was around because she thought he was cute and that was just too icky to even think about because big brothers were never ever ever cute. Big brothers were _stupid_.

Mitchell smirked with his stupid face, crossing his stupid arms over the stupid Batman symbol on his stupid chest. "Total chicken."

"Am not!"

"Go on up there then."

Shelby pointed her light-up fairy wand up the long dark trail that led to the base of the old looming building on the hill. It cast a soft glow that didn't shine very far. "Why should I? There's no one up there, even. If there was and they had candy, they'd put out a pumpkin."

Mitchell grinned and Jenna laughed.

"What?"

"Of course they don't have candy." Mitchell snorted. "It's not about _candy_, stupid."

"M'not stupid, you are." Shelby muttered and glared at Jenna, who was still snickering. It didn't matter if Jenna's house did have a pool, they were never going to be best friends ever again after this.

"There's something up there," Isaiah said. Jenna jumped and squeaked when Isaiah spoke and Shelby grinned. Jenna always forgot Isaiah was around, even though he was _always_ around. He just never said anything unless he had something to say. Shelby liked that about Isaiah.

"What kind of something?" Shelby asked.

Isaiah took off his glasses and rubbed them on the blue fur of his Sulley costume. "Lights and noises move around up there. Something _growls_ up there." He put his glasses back on. "You shouldn't go."

"See?" Shelby planted her candy-bucket holding fist on one hip. "We shouldn't go up there. It could be dangerous."

Mitchell and Jenna made 'OoooWoooo' noises, and laughed.

"Come on! It's dark! We need to get back to Maple and 12th to meet Dad with the car so he can drive us home!"

"Chicken!" Mitchell guffawed.

Jenna flapped her elbows, making her stupid pink cape flutter. "Chicken! Brawk!"

Shelby felt like her head was going to explode. "Okay! Fine! I'll go! Then we'll see who's chicken!"

That shut Mitchell and Jenna up, although they kept nudging each other and snickering.

Isaiah looked at Shelby, dark eyes showing white all around the edges behind his glasses and shook his head, just a little.

"It'll be fine, Isaiah," Shelby said, glaring at Mitchell and Jenna. "It's just some old building. There's nobody up there."

Isaiah pointed his flashlight up the path. "But it _growls_."

"It's okay. If there's anything there, I'll hit it with my fairy wand."

Mitchell and Jenna howled with laughter.

"Oh, just shut up!" Shelby yelled. She spun on her sneakered heel, starting up the long dark path, candy bucket swinging in one fist and light-up fairy wand in the other.

-.-

"Dean."

"What?"

Sam was squinting at the laptop, hunched over like his everything ached. It probably did. "We expecting anyone... really short?"

"...what?"

"Short and sparkly. With wings."

Dean sighed. "You running a fever again, Sam? We're out of that industrial-strength cough and cold crap but I can make you more of Dad's soup."

"No, Dean, I'm not... Well, maybe I am, yeah, but that's not it." Sam sniffled and pointed at the laptop screen. "Really, there's someone at the door."

Dean looked over at the CCTV display covering the front entrance. Short, sparkly, with wings. A twinkly glowing plastic wand in her small fist dimly lit her and the deep cement area around the door. Probably a girl. Maybe eight years old. Looking pretty pissed off if Dean was any judge.

"Think she's evil?" Sam rasped. "We don't have much luck with things that look like little girls turning out to actually be little girls."

Dean glanced across at the panels of dials, lights and buttons, all still and dark. "Nope. Nothing weird about her."

"Except that she's dressed like a fairy princess and standing outside our door."

The small sparkly figure on the screen rapped on the door, and very faint tapping rang down the entrance tunnel.

"I'll be damned." Dean chuckled. "We've got a trick-or-treater."

Sam squinted at the laptop screen. "Hunh. Pretty brave coming up here alone," he said, before realizing Dean had disappeared. "Dean?"

Dean emerged from the kitchen with an armload of assorted packages. "Beef jerky, no. Instant noodles, no. Rice cakes... seriously Sam, rice cakes?"

"Dean, what are you doing?"

"Our first ever trick-or-treater at our first actual home, Sam. Gotta give her something good." Dean shed rejected packages onto the map table and went back to rummage in the pantry some more.

"Dean..."

"Aha! M&Ms!" Clutching a colorful bag and grinning, Dean strode over and opened the door to the entrance tunnel.

"Dean!"

"What, Sam?"

"You aren't seriously going to go answer the door of our super-secret lair for a trick-or-treater, are you?"

Dean looked down at the bag of candy in his hand. "...yes?"

"Kids talk, Dean," Sam croaked. "You answer the door, by the end of the week her whole school's going to know someone's living up here. Then the parents of the whole school. Then the city council and the cops. Might as well put out a welcome mat out front and hide the key under it."

The tapping echoed up the tunnel again.

Dean frowned down at his bag of M&M's. "Yeah." Shoulders drooping, he went to return them and the rejected items to the kitchen pantry.

-.-

Shelby muttered under her breath, "I'll show them chicken. Stupid Mitchell, stupid Jenna, stupid stupid big stupid door thing." She kicked the door, then hopped around on one foot going 'ow' because kicking big metal door things wasn't really smart either. The candy in her pumpkin rustled as she hopped partway up the cement stairs to sit and rub her sore foot.

She'd gotten this far on sheer annoyance, just burning mad and not looking anywhere out into the darkness except the small patch of path her wand lit up until she got to this stupid door thing. Now, in the absence of Mitchell and Jenna's taunting, she could feel the annoyance draining away. It was being replaced by common sense thoughts like 'Why am I doing this?' and 'It's _really_ creepy up here.' and 'Why do I feel like I'm being watched?'

Silly. She should go. Just an old abandoned factory or warehouse up on the hill, nothing to be scared of. Shelby wriggled her sore toes and shrugged her shoulders, making her wings wiggle.

Isaiah had really been worried when she said she was going, though. He said he'd seen lights and heard growling. His house was in the valley below this hill, he might have really seen something. Isaiah wasn't the kind of kid that liked to make things up because they sounded more exciting or more creepy; not like Jenna and Mitchell did. If Isaiah said he saw and heard something, then...

There probably _was_ something up here, really.

A faint breeze picked up, pushing at her fairy wings and rustling in the bushes. Something went 'tonk-clonk' behind her, only a little further up the trail.

Shelby stiffened, sitting on the steps. _Probably just a little animal, or some leaves..._ She crept to the top of the cement staircase and swung her wand toward the noise.

Four glowing red eyes glimmered back at her.

Shelby shrieked.

-.-

The child's shrill cry of fear echoed up the access tunnel. On the CCTV their small sparkly visitor was barely at the edge of the frame, cowering at the top of the stairs and pointing her glowing wand out into the darkness.

"Something's out there with her!" Sam shouted. He stumbled to his feet and ran for the exit.

"What?" Dean ran back from the kitchen in time to see Sam jerk open the door to the access tunnel and pelt down it, already wheezing.

_-.-_

_It's- it's just a- a-_ Shelby couldn't think, panting. Behind her she heard something running towards the door with big slapping feet, groaning and roaring. She shrieked again and jumped away from the cement entryway.

Something big hit the door from the other side with a whump and let out a harsh moan. The door began to rattle and clank.

Shelby screamed again and ran down the trail, wand waving wildly in the dark, candy bouncing around in her plastic pumpkin. Her last view behind her was the shadow of a huge, shaggy, monstrous _thing_ in the doorway. An inhuman voice bellowed and snarled into the night.

She didn't look back again.

-.-

"Sam!" Dean shouted as he caught up with his brother, who was standing almost doubled over at the door having a coughing fit.

Sam waved Dean off and out the door, still coughing and trying to catch his breath. Glitter glinted in the cement well around the door and little feet pattered away down the trail, following the small pinkish glow of the plastic fairy wand.

Dean ran up the cement stairs, pulled his flashlight from his pocket and shone it around. Barricade, glinting Impala taillights, leaves on the hill, slight breeze... nothing. Frowning, he walked around the Impala, checking the doors were locked, brushing some leaves and small pine cones off the hood and trunk. Down the trail, the faint light of the kid's wand went around a bend and disappeared.

_Kid came up here alone in the dark on Halloween, imagination going wild. Probably an owl took off from a tree and scared the crap out of her._ Knowing the Men of Letters the whole area was probably ghost and monster proof, and had warnings that would go off inside if something malevolent was approaching. No sign of any of that.

Dean went back down the glittery cement stairs to Sam.

"Anything?" wheezed Sam, pulling himself upright and scowling mightily into the darkness.

"Naw, nothing. Kid just got spooked. If she says anything to her friends at school it'll be about monsters and ghosts. Nothing any adults who might hear are gonna put any stock in." Dean frowned and clicked off his flashlight. "Sammy, are you-"

"I'm fine, Dean." Sam wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and quickly rubbed it onto his dark brown shirt.

"Bull. Back inside, wrap up in a blanket. I'll make more of Dad's soup."

Sam groaned, but turned around and shuffled up the tunnel.

Pulling the door shut, Dean glanced around into the dark. Quiet, leafy rustling, faint traffic sounds from the city below. Nothing that was a threat. He went back inside and shut the door.

-.-

The group at the bottom of the trail had watched Shelby's light disappear, Mitchell and Jenna snickering together, Isaiah alternately glaring at them and aiming his flashlight up the path.

Then far up the trail, Shelby shrieked.

Everyone jumped.

"She's probably faking," scoffed Jenna.

"Shut up, Jenna," Isaiah said. Mitchell frowned at Jenna and looked up the trail, moving closer to Isaiah.

Jenna followed Mitchell with a huff. "But she's faking! She's just trying to make us think-"

Another shriek, followed by a faint sort of growling bark echoing down from above.

Jenna looked up the trail too now, eyes going wider. "Maybe there's a dog."

"The growls I heard from up there were way bigger than a dog." Isaiah said, gripping his flashlight so tight the light from it shook.

"Shelby?" Mitchell called up the trail, but only half-loud, like he wanted to know if his sister was okay but at the same time didn't want to get the attention of the growling barking thing.

"I told you guys," Isaiah said, shifting from blue furry foot to blue furry foot, looking up the trail. "I told you! Something's up there!"

Shelby's pink glowing wand appeared around the bend in the trail, moving fast. They could hear her sneakered feet thumping against the trail as she ran.

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as she ran up to the group.

"Shelby, what-?"

Shelby ran right past them. "RUUUUUUUNN!" she shouted as she flew by, sparkly wings crookedly flapping as she ran.

The group looked at each other, looked up the dark trail, and then turned and ran, following Shelby all the way to Maple and 12th.

-.-.-  
(that's all! Happy Halloween!)


End file.
